‘Salehi-Hague meeting at UK request’

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman says a recent meeting between Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his British counterpart William Hague in Afghanistan took place at the request of the British side’s request.
The Iranian and British foreign ministers met in Kabul on June 14 on the sidelines of an international conference on Afghanistan dubbed the “Heart of Asia Conference.”
“Salehi’s meeting with Hague took place on the sidelines of the Afghanistan’s neighbors conference via [the mediation] of a third country and upon the request of the British side,” Ramin Mehmanparast said on Saturday.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman added that the British side had indicated it wanted to have a meeting and talk about the two countries’ relations and possibly the issue of opening an interest section.
“Since they showed their readiness and submitted this request via a third country and due to our concern about the consular rights of our nationals [in Britain] and problems which are facing them, we accepted to have the meeting and it took place,” Mehmanparast said.
“During the meeting, discussions focused on interest sections for the two countries as well as regional developments,” he noted.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman stated that Iran has also voiced its viewpoints on the destructive role of Western countries in regional developments during the meeting.
He also slammed British officials for having falsely claimed that the meeting took place on Iran's request, noting that such claims are only good for propaganda and contravene diplomatic ethics.
SS/HGH/IS